In the Media

Prof. Sherry Turkle speaks with Fast Company reporter Alex Pasternack about her memoir, “The Empathy Diaries” and the role of technology in society.

Wall Street Journal reporter John Anderson spotlights a new PBS special “Fast Forward: Look Into Your Future,” which explores the many facets of aging and was developed with input from researchers at the MIT AgeLab.

Forbes contributor Roslyn Layton spotlights a new paper by CSAIL researchers that explores the market for domain names. “The authors observe that the intellectual property associated with domain names and the value of DNS itself as embedded, reliable infrastructure,” writes Layton. “However, changing behavior is reducing the value and function of DNS by separating names from addresses.”

Boston.com reporter Mark Gartsbeyn spotlights “Coded Bias,” a new documentary that chronicles graduate student Joy Buolamwini’s work uncovering bias in AI systems. Gartsbeyn writes that in 2018, Buolamwini “co-authored an influential study showing that commercially available facial recognition programs had serious algorithmic bias against women and people of color.”

Graduate student Joy Buolamwini speaks with Molly Wood of Marketplace about her work uncovering bias in AI systems and her calls for greater oversight of facial recognition systems. “We need the laws, we need the regulations, we need an external pressure, and that’s when companies respond,” says Buolamwini. “But the change will not come from within alone because the incentives are not aligned.”

Writing for The Atlantic, Professor of the practice of the humanities Alan Lightman explores the concept of miracles or “supernatural events” and notes that “some recent proposals in physics reveal that believers and nonbelievers may have more in common than they think.”

In an article for The Boston Globe, AgeLab Director Joseph Coughlin spotlights how the greater Boston area and New England in general have the “potential to become the Longevity Hub: a world-leading driver of innovation for aging populations.”

NY Post reporter Asia Grace writes that MIT researchers have found that patients are comfortable with allowing robotic assistants perform medical evaluations, as part of an effort to help reduce the spread of Covid-19. “People are very positive and accepting of robotic systems in health-care settings, particularly during the pandemic,” says Prof. Giovanni Traverso.

UPI reporter Brooks Hays writes that MIT researchers have developed a new technique for turning plastic into a wearable material. “Engineers at MIT have managed to weave polyethylene into fibers that absorb and evaporate water more quickly than cotton, nylon, polyester and other common textiles,” writes Hays. “The authors of the new paper hope their technology will incentivize plastic recycling.”

Writing for The New York Times, Prof. Amy Finkelstein emphasizes the effectiveness of randomized clinical trials. Finkelstein notes that she hopes “truly rigorous testing of social policy will become as commonplace as it is for new vaccines. That would help ensure that government services are delivered as effectively and efficiently as possible.”

Prof. Sara Seager speaks with Washington Post reporter Timothy Bella about the search for exoplanets and the James Webb Telescope. “I just remember seeing the stars and being overwhelmed by the beauty and the vastness and the mysteriousness of it,” recalled Seager, of a camping trip with her father that helped inspire her interest in space. “There’s something almost terrifying about it at the same time as it being so beautiful, because yeah, it’s so unknown, and it seems like it goes on forever.”

Cherish Taylor, a fifth-year PhD student at the University of Texas at Austin, speaks with Pearl Stewart of Diverse: Issues in Higher Ed about how the MIT Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science (MITES) program, “exposed me to the possibility of a career in academic research. Prior to my time at MITES, having a career in science meant serving as a medical professional or forensic analyst,” says Taylor. “I had no idea universities housed large research facilities that allowed scientists to answer questions about basic science (and) human disease.”

Writing for Forbes, Elisabeth Reynolds, executive director of the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future, underscores the need to improve job quality, increase access to education and training, and invest in technologies that augment workers. “The public and private sectors must also be innovative in the ways in which they can collaborate in creating a work of the future that leads to greater shared prosperity,” writes Reynolds.

Fast Company reporter Nate Berg highlights Ori, an MIT startup that makes motorized furniture that can be used to transform small spaces. 

Prof. Basima Tewfik speaks with BBC reporter Peter Rubinstein about imposter syndrome. Tewfik has found that “by leaning into the feelings of inadequacy – rather than trying to resist or overcome them – and putting extra effort into communication, imposters can actually outperform their non-imposter peers in interpersonal skills,” writes Rubinstein.